Usually, exhibitions organized around a technique or medium rather than a concept tend to come off as crafty rather than curated—the whole enterprise tends to knock ideas a notch (or two, or three) below form. But fetish craft revivalism and the weird, zeitgeisty impulse to BRAND BRAND BRAND make the consumption of technique and material a somewhat reluctant political activity, imbued with any and as much concept as you like. Some people relish this. They think of thrift-store shopping as a for... [more]

When Hammarby! opened on February 15th at the Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts it was supposed to be a sneak peek for what was to come from thirteen MFA students under the tutelage of artist-in-residence Kris Martin. The second floor gallery of the Wattis was to become not only a place to see works of art, but a classroom that was to be open to the public. However, for a project initially touted for its transparency, what exactly happened between February and May is unclear to many. Martin... [more]

Recently, I had the privilege of ambling with Belgian artist Kris Martin through the second floor gallery at the CCA Wattis just before the installation of Hammarby! began, which had its “soft opening” (suggesting the current installation is not the final product) on February 15th. Existentially Hammarby! is a class as exhibition project, everyone expected to (in varying degrees of boldness) try their hand at learning in public, encouraged, as the press materials relate, to work on time-based projec... [more]